The Friday email: 21 March 2025

Stop the Cuts parliamentary lobby

A big thank you to everyone that joined our Stop the Cuts parliamentary lobby, hosted by Liz Saville Roberts MP, on Tuesday 18 March. Before the lobby we also held a rally with speeches from John McDonnell MP and reps from university branches across the UK. Politicians were matched with constituents in a packed committee room; we pressed the MPs to support our Stop the Cuts campaign. We will continue this lobbying to boost political awareness of the unfolding crisis in higher education and the need for urgent government intervention. More materials will be made available on the UCU website very soon.

Meanwhile, you can continue to help by:

• Signing and sharing the petition: make your voice heard by signing and sharing the Stop the Cuts petition. Every signature builds our campaign and increases our voice
• Save the date for the national UCU demo in London on Saturday 10 May: please look out for more information over the coming weeks as this demo will bring members and supporters together across HE, FE, prison and adult education to make our demands across all sectors heard.

Strike action across UK universities

Newcastle University staff have continued their action this week; they were striking from Monday 17 to Thursday 20 March. The dispute is over management's threat to cut £35m, including £20m from its salary bill, equivalent to around 300 jobs. You can find out more about the strikes and how to support striking staff by visiting Newcastle UCU branch's website.

Meanwhile, staff at the University of Dundee have carried out three weeks of strike action over the university's threat to cut jobs including compulsory redundancies. Dundee staff have been informed of the devastating news that management is cutting 632 jobs and that insolvency is 'a real possibility'. Watch this clip of Dundee University interim principal Shane O'Neill being questioned in Holyrood.

Brunel University of London continued strike action this week; click here for the full schedule. The dispute at Brunel arose over management's original plans to make 135 academic staff redundant; representatives from Brunel UCU lobbied their MP in the House of Parliament. 

University of East Anglia UCU served notice of a day of strike action and continuous action short of a strike (ASOS) in a dispute over compulsory redundancies. UEA UCU want Wednesday 26 March to be a day to celebrate staff at UEA, to remind the employer that we are the university, that we matter, and that we have a clear and unified voice.

Finally, there will be strike action at Sheffield Hallam University on 24-25 March and 2-3 April in a dispute over the university's deferred implementation of pay increase.

New Deal for FE update

Earlier this month a UCU delegation went to the Department of Education to present our New Deal for FE petition. Almost 6,000 supporters signed the petition calling for a New Deal with pay parity with schoolteachers, national bargaining and action on workloads. You can continue to support the New Deal for FE campaign by:

• presenting the petition to your college principal or senior management team
• taking photos of staff and supporters holding up our 'I support a New Deal for FE' posters and giant card petition props like our members at Hopwood Hall College in North West England and MidKent College
• holding a lunchtime meeting about the New Deal for FE campaign
• sharing campaign leaflets in your workplace.

UCU will be giving oral evidence at the Education Committee Inquiry on further education and skills on Tuesday 25 March. You will be able to follow this on Parliament TV, and we will provide further updates on New Deal for FE imminently.

Industrial action ballots across UK universities

The industrial action ballot at Cardiff University over job cuts and redundancies will close on Monday 24 March. Thank you to everyone who voted and to all Cardiff UCU branch members and UCU staff who assisted with getting the vote out.

The universities currently balloting also include Sheffield, Durham, Keele, Kent, Birmingham City University (BCU) and Liverpool. 

At Sheffield, the employer is threatening as many as 1,000 staff with redundancy. Durham management plans to cut £20m from the university's staffing budget. Keele University plans to make £2.25m staffing cuts in the humanities, social sciences and business. BCU is in a dispute over plans to put 36 posts at risk of redundancy and to impose new performance targets that members believe are designed to set them up to fail. Liverpool is a dispute over management's refusal to negotiate to reach agreement over professional services' on-site attendance.

Finally, please support the following branches where UCU members in higher education are also continuing to defend jobs and education, for example Bangor, University of Bedfordshire, Bradford, Canterbury Christ Church, Edinburgh, Northampton, and University of Sunderland.

Strike action and re-ballot at University of Kent

Members at the University of Kent will begin five days of strike action on Monday 24 March. This follows the failure of the employer to respond positively to our reasonable demands around job security and workload. Kent have been in near crisis for the last four years. Hundreds of jobs have been lost and increasing workload is now the norm. Enough is enough, management need to get a grip and give us a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies this year.

Members are determined to fight on and are already balloting again to extend their mandate for industrial action. Messages of support can be sent to Charlie Hall at Kent UCU.

Coventry University: sign the petition!

Coventry University staff and students have been protesting against the fire and rehire cost cutting exercise that vice-chancellor John Latham has embarked upon. Last Saturday staff, students and applicants came together in a lively alternative open day.

You can continue to help Coventry UCU's campaign by signing the petition demanding Latham's removal from his government appointed non-executive post on the board of the Department for Business and Trade. The petition now has almost 4,000 signatures, and you can add yours here.

Stop the Cuts at Kingston University

In response to Kingston University's proposal to shut down the Department of Humanities, Department of Politics and Social Sciences and its Language Scheme alongside a voluntary severance scheme, UCU and concerned students and colleagues have written an open letter to Kingston management. We express our profound concern and alarm regarding the impact, reputational damage, and questionable legality of the job cuts and course suspensions currently being hastily imposed. Click here for more information and to sign the letter.

Northern Ireland FE update

UCU declared a formal trade dispute with all six college employers in Northern Ireland after they failed to honour the terms offered to members in the 2023/24 pay settlement. A commitment to achieving full pay parity with schoolteachers, as well as an agreement to address all terms and conditions and workload of academic staff, has been reneged on. Northern Ireland FE members are being balloted for strike action now; if you work in one of the six colleges please vote and send in your ballot as soon as possible.

Calling all UCU prison educators

UCU is partnering with Education Support on a project about the health and wellbeing of prison educators. You can participate in two ways:

• we are asking you to complete an anonymous survey which takes approximately 15 minutes
• join a focus group session--you will receive a £30 voucher as compensation for your time and you can sign up here.

UCU is also partnering with Professor Nicola Rollock and the team at NIANRO Consulting to help us to identify how we can help to improve Black prison educators' workplace experiences. Please sign up to take part in a research interview that will last approximately 75 minutes. You can do so by emailing Motunrayo at NIANRO Consulting by Friday 28 March. All information collected will be anonymised. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Angela Nartey or Maxine Looby.

UCU reasonable adjustment survey

We are aiming to gain an understanding of your experiences with reasonable adjustments at work from both the perspectives of UCU members and branch representatives who support disabled UCU members. We kindly ask that you complete our brief survey to share your insights; this survey will close on Friday 11 April.

UCU statement on benefit and welfare cuts

In light of the UK government's announcement concerning cuts to the benefit and welfare system for disabled people, UCU's FE and HE reps for disabled members on the national executive committee (NEC) have issued a statement opposing these measures.

Climate and ecological emergency: annual SDG Teach In

The 8th annual SDG Teach In is taking place from 1 to 31 March 2025. Pledge to take part in the 2025 SDG Teach In by embedding one or several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into your educational practice.

The Teach In is open to all educators, trainers and facilitators around the world in all types of (in)formal education.

Opportunities to tailor the Teach In to your educational contexts are endless--from stimulating student learning with artistic prompts about human rights to clean air, to organising mock climate conferences, and creating case studies about local biodiversity. All approaches to the Teach In are welcome.

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 25 March

Tuesday 25 March marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UCU will be hosting a special webinar that day (18:00-19:00).

The webinar is entitled 'Education, reparations and justice: the legacy of slavery in post-16 learning'. Our keynote speaker is Dr Leona Vaughn, academic and researcher in the field of equalities and social justice, and the webinar is hosted by UCU president Maxine Looby. Please click here to register.

Solidarity with Ukraine

Please consider signing this statement in support of Ukraine labour rights.

For colleagues in and near London, on Monday 24 March, Ian Lavery MP will be hosting a forum 'The USA, Europe and Ukraine: what next?' Please find more details of this in-person event and register via Eventbrite.